Phoenixthebird

Since SR is a global website, I think it would be interesting to start a thread based upon the regional slang words or phrases that are common in your area. American English has several highly developed and distinct regional varieties. Include the different regional slang words or phrases of our fellow English speaking members could be both very interesting and helpful.

I lived my first 18 years of my life in Iowa, my AH is from Pittsburgh, PA, 7 years around Baltimore, MD, and now I have lived the past 20 years in Texas. So I will post some of the variations that I have come across.

A big one here in the U.S. is pop vs soda vs sodey pop vs soda water vs "coke"

Here's a cool map that shows how the term is divided based on geographic location: The Pop vs. Soda Page

'you guys' vs 'ya'll' vs "all y'all" vs "you guys" (two or more people)

Bitty bit (a small amount)

Washroom vs restroom vs bathroom

Carry on (to carry on foolishness)

Directly (in a little while, or a couple of weeks)

"over to" vs "down yonder" (as in "I'm heading over to the library")

"britches" vs "sugar britches" vs "honey" (affectional term)

And my favorite..."Well Bless Your Heart!" It can mean everything from real sympathy, to mocking, to a polite F-you!

do-hicky vs whatchamacallit vs jitney (thing you can't put a name to (as in "Honey, where's that do-hicky you use to unclog the toilet?")

shindig: a party or event we're not too excited about (as in "Nope, can't go, wife says we have to go to some shindig Saturday night.")

a falling out: old argument (as in "Jim & I had a falling out")

sorry: worthless (as in "You're sorry, lying sack of crap!")

reckon: suppose (as in "I reckon you're gonna want that back.")

Barking up the wrong tree. (you are wrong)

Caught with your pants down. (surprised and unprepared)

Do go on. (you must be joking)

Aim to vs Fixing to (plan to do)

Don't bite off more than you can chew. (attempt what you can accomplish)

Don't count your chickens until they hatch. (first know the results)

Fly off the handle. (angry and lashing out)

Get the short end of the stick. (not invited and treated wrong)

Dirty pool (to trick someone or treat them unfairly)

Go off half-cocked. (have only half the facts)

Go to bed with the chickens. (in bed early)

Go whole hog. (go for it all)

Got your feathers ruffled. (upset and pouting)

Have no axe to grind. (no strong opinion)

I do declare. (usually means nothing)

'Coon (raccoon)

In a coon's age (been a long time)

Piddle (waste time, doing nothing)

Like a bump on a log vs Playing possum (lazy and doing nothing)

Like two peas in a pod. (act and think alike)

Mend fences. (settle differences)

Sight for sore eyes. (Nice to you!)

Stomping grounds. (familiar territory)

That takes the cake. (surprised)

Too big for one's britches vs Airish vs Biggity (vain and overbearing) (someone taking themself too seriously)

Well, shut my mouth. (shocked and speechless)

Clodhopper (heavy work shoes or large shoes)

Chunk (throw, toss)

Cow lick (hair standing out on one's head)

Dixie (Southern States of the U.S.A)

Feisty (being frisky)

Hey (hello)

Hold your horses (be patient)

Laid up (ill, hurt, unable to work)

Mess (one who carries on, "He's a mess.")

Much obliged (thank you; hope to return the favor)

Good ol' boy (A rough and fun lover who likes most anything involving challenge and expression of virility. Many wear cowboy hats and boots, and drive pick-up trucks equipped with CB radios, fishing rods, and firearms.)

Coon-ass (A good ol’ boy in Cajun Country)

Hoagies vs Grinders vs Subs

The following phrases or words are specifically regional to Pittsburg, PA (Pittsburghese)

"Yunz" (two or more people)

"Gum bands" (rubber bands)

"Red up" (to clean up the house)

"n'at" (a tag that gets tossed onto the end of a lot of sentences)

A Wisconsin word "Bubbler" (water fountain)

A Louisiana word "poke" (paper bag)

A Iowa phrase "breakfast food" (cereal)

The ever popular Northern MN "Eh" or "Yep", also, Canadian

I know I didn't get all these correct, please help me by adding your own regional slang words or phrases that are common in your area. Let's have some fun for a change and spice things up!

Tally

I'm from Liverpool in the UK, we kinda have our own language called Scouse, which for non-scousers can be quite hard to understand as we talk really fast and shorten lots of words.

Arlarse - Means when you're being sly to someone, mean and sneaky.
Antwacky - Mean old fashioned, chintzy.
Scal or Scally - Means common, normally hangs around in a gang and wears tracksuits
Worra - Short for "What I"
Flim - £5
Tight Arse - Someone who wont give you something or keeps something to themself.
Tonne - £100
"An wha like?" - A common phrase used during arguments, means "what are you going to do about it?"
Bevvy - Alcohol, used like "Fancy a bevvy"
Bevvied - drunk
Offy - Off License
Bird - girl or woman as in "where's ya bird?" (where is your wife/girlfriend?)
Boss - very good, excellent
Scran - Food
Fumin - annoyed, angry
'ed - Head
Me - My (as in "Goin to me Mums" not "my Mums)
Bifter - Cigarette
Bizzies - the police
Brew - cup of tea
no need - there isn't any justifable reason for that action...


Am sure there's loads more but that's all I can think of at the mo

ruxxxpin

im from arizona!

scrill, cheese, provolone, mozerella, bones - money
word - okay "you comin to the movie tonight?" "yeah" "alright, word"
dog,homie, homeboy - friend
bomb - good "that pizza was bomb"
kickin it, chillin - hangin out

Hollyanne

Drink related and others, good thread, could have mighty crack (craic=fun) with this one.
Guinness- Creamy buns
Langers/pissed/legless/hammered/out of it=drunk
Langer=idiot
Dustbin=garbage can.
Rubbish=trash.
Yer man=that guy. "where's yer man?"
Fags/coffin nails=cigarettes.
Trollop/trampy girl.
Traipse=wander slowly.
Gargle=booze.
Bog/loo=restroom.
Lasher= goodlooker.
Pisshead=big drinker.
Spuds/poppies=Potatoes.
Grub/nosh=food.
Go for a slash=go pee.
Gotta go, no, really, gotta go!
Back later to check out more.

Phoenixthebird

Thank you both for your responses.

Hollyanne, Fags/coffin nails=cigarettes, I'm going to have to remember this one. As you probably know has a totally meaning here in Texas!

BumblingAlong

Canadians say "eh" - but at the end of a question. eg; it's a nice day, eh? Contrary to Hollywood's perception, it's NOT said at the end of EVERY sentence! (EH!)

I recently went shopping in the US (Buffalo), and a store clerk asked my niece to spell her surname ; in Canada, we pronounce the last letter of the alphabet as "ZED" (like the Brits). She has a "z" in her surname, and when she spelled it out and said "zed" the clerk looked at her like she had two heads. It was funny to us, because Buffalo is a border city, lousy with Canadian shoppers, and the clerk had never heard it.

BumblingAlong

Tally, my mum was born in Manchester and emigrated to Canada in her 20s. She used a lot of English expressions:

Give over - stop what you're doing
lift - elevator
mum - mom
luv - sweetheart/darling/dear
"you alright chuck?" - is everything okay ("chuck" was a name for anyone)

Tally

Yeah we use all those too, there's a lot of "northern dialect" that the northern cities share. I say chuck myself although it's not really a Liverpool word. "Give over" I hear from a lot of Irish people, my Dad and all his side of the family say it so I always associated it with being an Irish phrase.

Live

Thanks, Phoenix!

I LOVE dialects.

I have lived in quite a few places but here are a couple of my favorites:

"That dog won't hunt." (that plan is not workable) or "not happenin'"

"Kick rocks." (hit the road Jack)

and the new one I had never heard before!
When we got directions from the neighbors they did not say turn left or go left, etc ...
they say "cut left" in fact it may be that making a turn of any kind is a "cut"

theuncertainty

No worries - You're welcome / It's OK / Don't worry about it. (picked up from rugby players from Australia and New Zealand)
Get p-ssed - get sloppy drunk

Also picked up other phrases from the guys, but I'm not really sure just how derogatory or offensive they are, so.... moving past the rugby influence...

Lower 48 - Alaskan for the continuous 48 States
Travel/go outside - leave Alaska
Cool beans - that's cool
Aaaaah (said in a sing song tone by kids over a particularly cool toy, accomplishment, etc.) - very cool thing, envision light from Heaven shining on said object.

johndelko408

Well out here in california and especially here in the bay area we have a language of our own.

We've been known to have started hecka and hella (heck of and hell of - meaning a lot)
Yaper (sounds like paper), gouda, scratch, feds, = money
A bill = $100, a rack = $1000
Though I no longer indulge. Trees, broccoli = pot.
Tweeker = meth addict
Bass head = crackhead
J-cat, square are derogatory terms for people who obey the law.
Straight edge = no drugs, no alcohol and no promiscuity
The Yay = The Bay Area (San Francisco bay area)
Cherry can mean a number of things, cool, sweet or "that chick is cherry" in this sense it means hot or pretty.
Beans or Cool beans is like saying okay or cool. Like if someone were to give you something you like or say yes to a favor, you respond beans or cool beans.
Famous means all good. Like "how are you doing" reply with "famous"
We say soda not POP. The first time I went to Washington I was in a McDonald's and they asked me what type of pop I would like. I had no clue what they were talking about when I learned they were referring to soda I thought I was in the 50's or something.
Yadadamean is "you know what I mean."
Scraper is a lowered car, hence the tail pipe scrapes the road.
Box Chev is an 80's model Caprice
Whip or ride is a car.
Slap or slump means bass like "my whip gots slap"
Stoges = cigarettes
Beats is music
Then of course Efeezy (E40) has started a slang of his own. Fo shizzle or shezzle means for sure
Launch pad is your hometown.
For those of us that spin tables, tables = turntables. (techniques mk1200's only the best baby). Straight vinyl none of that cd mixing crap. Cd's = no skill and the death of the Dj/turntablist.
And I have to give props to the East Bay aka the nickelDime aka the 5-1zipper aka Alameda County the 510 area code. That's were I'm from originally.
"What it do or what it do-do" is how are you doing or what's up.

So much more to list. We're somewhat of different breed of cat on the left (west) coast.

(((Live))) we also say kick rocks out here. We also say bounce, jam and of course split which is known all around.

Live

Is it "that dog won't hunt." or "that dog don't hunt"?????????

When I lived in Florida some folks let me know that they were "crackers" meaing they and their parents were born and raised there...and I was a "snowbird" even if I lived there year round for a job. Or even after I married a "cracker"

johndelko408

Snap, out here a cracker is someone of white decent. It's a derogatory term out here like peckerwood. I'm half white myself so I've been called cracker before, little do they know I'm half El Salvadorian and speak fluent Spanish.

theuncertainty

"Snowbird" in Alaska means some one who lives here during the summer and goes outside once the snow hits.

LucyA

where I live if you're crackers you're a little bit crazy

Babyblue

Another Bay Area person here! (Hi John). I was going to post "hella" because that is a hella bay area thing to say

Something else is "that is sick". Not as in, disgusting but so awesome it is just 'sick' with awesomeness!

John mentioned many of them. I'll add some more.

"Hot mess" someone who is intriguing but has a lot of issues.
"Jacked up" means overly reactive, hyper, high, stoned, crazy about something. As in, that guy is all 'jacked up on his cold medicine'.

That is about all I can think of.


Peace!

theuncertainty

My auntie lives back East (New York) and once while Mom was visiting her, Auntie asked if she could go out and buy some soda. Mom came back with baking soda and not pop.

LucyA

Gobsmacked (I know some of you like this word!) = surprised, shocked, amazed

I only live a few (15ish?) miles away from Tally, I'm about halfway between Liverpool and Manchester, but I find it difficult to follow someone who is speaking in real Scouse, likewise the strong Mancunians.
But they sometimes struggle to follow me if I speak in my Lancashire accent with the dialect going strong.

velma929

A peculiar phrase we have here is "got done," to leave a job, voluntarily or not.

"Does Jack still work here?" "No, he got done."

LucyA

We have this dish where I'm from, it's basically a cheap kind of stew, but it's a very traditional dish in my town (it has variations all over the country though)
It's potatoes, onions and corned beef seasones and simmered for as long as you like really.
We call it Lobby
When I first me my ex husband, he's from Manchester, a few miles up the road, he asked me why it was called Lobby.
I really had no idea, but I said it's because we just lob everything in the pan and it's done.
So a few weeks we were having dinner at my mums after work and he saw what my mum was cooking
'Great' he said 'we're having Fling, I love it.'

That was almost 20 years ago, he's never lived it down.